Random Adventures April 2013-June 2014

I have been a slacker on posting. Here is a little recap of some of the adventures we have been having.

Moving from Phoenix to St. George 4/20/13

Goodbye Saguaros!!

Golfing Sky Mountain Golf Course 5/27/13

Bryce Canyon National Park 5/31/13
Brett's brother was doing a 100K race in Bryce Canyon National Park.  We went out to pace him for portions of his race.  The leg I paced him on had a gorgeous view at the aid station!

Apricot Jam 6/21/13

Quail Creek State Park 8/17/13

We decided to go catch some crawdads and take a swim in the lake one evening.

Hike: Angels Landing in Zion National Park 8/31/13

This was the first time I have ever done this hike in the rain and it was really beautiful.  There was also some really neat lightning that was so loud when echoing off the canyon walls!

Hike: Kolob Arch  9/2/13

Cockatiels Fall 2013

At some point in the fall, these two adorable cockatiels were found in our neighbors tree.  They didn't want them so we happily took them.  I already had a cage from when I had a cockatiel growing up so it worked out perfectly.  After a few months we quickly found out they were probably let go by the previous owners on purpose.  The one on the left is VERY noisy!  We convinced Brett's brother to take him... but he only lasted there for a couple months before he was returned. The birds are happily back together and the male is just as noisy as ever.

Hike: Red Cliffs Desert Reserve (Washington, UT) 9/8/13

Trimming our Tree 9/27/13

If you look closely Brett is in that tree sawing that huge branch down.  We took turns shimmying up the tree and sawing the giant branch with our 1920's saw we got from a garage sale.  It was quite the workout, but the branch had to go because it was hitting our house.

Fall Hike: Taylor's Creek in Kolob Canyon 10/20/13

Family Baby Blessing in Elk Ridge - Fall 2013

Golfing Chistmas Day at Green Springs Golf Course 12/25/13

We went golfing on Christmas Day and it was absolutely gorgeous weather.  Brett got to try out his brand new golf ball retriever and had a pretty heavy golf bag by the time we were finished.

New Years Eve Crab and New York Strip Buffet in Mesquite, NV 12/31/13

Hike: Volcano near Snow Canyon State Park 1/1/14

This particular hike comes with a little story.  We saw the volcano from the highway and decided we wanted to hike it someday.  Today was that day.  We hiked up the back side of the volcano quite quickly with no issues.  The view from the top was gorgeous.  We walked around the whole top of the volcano and noticed one side was really steep and had the really small volcanic rock that is sometimes fun to run/slide down.  Brett mentioned it might be fun to slide down, rather than hike down the other side.  As he was scouting out a good spot to go down, I just haphazardly jumped off the edge thinking I would just go for it.  I immediately slipped onto my butt and started flying down the side of the volcano with a pile of rock.  The rock was not deep like I thought it was going to be.  Instead there was a really solid layer of rock and then a 1/4" of slippery volcanic rock on top of that.  Right when I hit it, I started sliding and I couldn't stop.  I was terrified.  I started dragging my hands in an attempt to slow down and finally came to a stop about 20-30 feet down the volcano, but about 3/4 of the way from the bottom.  My hands and legs were torn up and I was kind of in shock and not really responding to Brett's calls.  He jumped down after me immediately since I wasn't really responding to come help me.  He also got all scraped up and came up with a method for us to start sliding down together.  In the moment, we couldn't think of a way to get down besides keep on sliding and dragging a leg or foot through the sharp rock to slow us down.  Eventually we made it down and we were pretty beat up.  Brett was worse off than I was with a huge gash in his hand and knee.  When we got to the car and got ourselves cleaned up we realized we were so silly.  Either one of us could have taken off our shirt and put that over our hands while dragging them so they wouldn't have gotten as cut up.  It's funny how you get that adrenaline and you just can't think straight.  We made it out with no serious injuries however, and were definitely grateful for that.

Navigation Arrows in Utah Desert 1/4/14

We heard there were large concrete arrows in the desert in Utah.  We did some research and found one about 20 minutes from our home.  Apparently they were used for navigation for airplanes back in the day.

Phoenix, AZ 1/25/14

Brett had some meetings in Phoenix in January. I tagged along and we extended the trip into the weekend so we could visit Cori and Jesse and fam.  The top photo is from a trail we love to run near their home.  I'm glad we got a photo since that will be the last time we probably ever run it now that they moved!

My Birthday Breakfast

Brett made me Greek Style Scrambled Eggs w/ Feta and Spinach.  My Favorite!

Tubing at Brian Head Ski Resort 3/29/14

Spartan Race in Las Vegas 4/5/14

We volunteered and earned our free race entries for the Utah race in June. The girls also ran the Jr. Spartan race and had a great time.

Jordan World Circus - Hurricane, UT 6/2/14

My favorite part of the show were the tigers and the elephants.  They had 7 tigers and 3 elephants and they did some pretty impressive stuff.

Shakes 6/9/14